The Old Landing______________________

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

I am pleased to report that the Society is in great shape and

many exciting things have happened over the past year.

We hired a part-time Executive Director, Dr. Jeffrey Miller,

who works one day a week. Jeff also works at the Matta-

poisett Historical Society and we feel fortunate to have him

as he is extremely well-qualified, with a Ph.D. in Historical

Archaeology from Queens University in Belfast, Ireland. He

has extensive experience in research and interpreting histo-

ry, material culture and maritime communities. His duties

include collections management, public relations, educa-

tion, exhibition planning, facilities management and fund-

raising. He is a great addition to our team.

Our classic film series has been a great success, largely due

to the efforts and enthusiasm of our Vice President, David Pierce. This year we featured some

great films like A Man for all Seasons, Cool Hand Luke, All quiet on the Western Front, Some Like

it Hot and Moby Dick. David has chosen a wonderful selection of monthly films beginning again

in September.

The Sippican Historical Society and the Croll Foundation, in collaboration with Sky Develop-

ment, which is owned by Michael and Kate Sudofsky, were able to purchase the Captain Hadley

House and obtain a deed restriction on this most important historical property. The restriction

ensures that the building has been saved in perpetuity. The exterior of the building cannot be

changed or altered, unless approval is granted by the SHS. It can never be moved and if it is de-

The newsletter of the Sippican Historical Society July 2016

Jeff in the snow earlier this year.

The CHH is an architectural gem and it is a beacon to the official entrance into Marion. It was

built in 1846 for Captain Stephen Hadley, who resided there until 1880. Arctic explorer Adolphus

Greeley and his family rented the house for many years and invited the first lady, Frances Cleve-

land, to visit during the last year of her husband, Grover Cleveland’s, first term as President. The

funds used to purchase this deed restriction came out of our restricted preservation fund. This

fund was formed and endowed by benefactors including the late Jim Weinberg and Chuck Arms.

Jim, Chuck and many others

realized the need for the SHS

to get involved in protecting

and preserving Marion’s im-

portant buildings, and it is

our hope to continue to pur-

sue this course in the future.

I would like to give special

thanks to Judith Rosbe, our

treasurer and past president,

for spearheading this project

and bringing it to fruition.

And I would also like to thank

David Croll, Doug Munro and

Michael Sudofsky for helping

to make this happen.

THIRD GRADE VISITORS

On June 10, the Sippican School third grade

included the museum as part of a walking

tour around the village. Four classes visited,

and Jeff was busy teaching them about arti-

facts, museums, and history. The children

were given a scavenger hunt which tasked

them with finding objects around the muse-

um. A short video on the mystery of the

Mary Celeste was a favorite with the kids.

The walking tour is an annual event for the

third graders, so we look forward to wel-

coming them again next year!

The Captain Hadley House

Sippican School third-graders at the museum.

MEMORIAL GARDEN

When Dick Anderson, our long-time board member, Treasurer and Past President, died, his wife,

Dana, suggested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the SHS’s Memorial Garden. With

the generous fund, SHS purchased beautiful new Memorial Garden furniture for all to enjoy. We in-

vite you to stop by and to sit on one of the new benches and chairs and remember Dick and all that

he did for SHS.

Ann Ziegler has graciously accepted being in charge

of the Memorial Garden. Not only has she donated

new plants for the garden and its planters, but she

overseas the maintenance of the garden. She is

keeping it as a beautiful oasis to rest and reflect on

loved ones remembered on bronze plaques around

the garden.

SPEAKERS’ SERIES

Our Speakers Series has begun in full swing this summer with Mary Howland Smoyer’s talk on

“Remember the Ladies: Boston Women in Public Art,” and Caroline Elkins’s lecture on “Empire on

Trial.” We have many more speakers lined up for interesting and informative talks for the rest of

the summer, including Mau VanDuren, Robert McFarlane, Christine Black and B. Jay Cooper.

Dana Anderson. The Richard Anderson memorial bench.

Ann Ziegler in the Memorial Garden.

WHALING COLLECTION

In January, we were very pleased to accept the donation of an extensive collection of 19th century

objects related to the whaling industry from Margot Stone and her daughter, Robin Arms Shields.

This collection was assembled by the late David Arms, Margot’s former husband and Robin’s fa-

ther. David was a Vice President of the Society and the driving force behind the creation of the nau-

tical history room at the museum. According to Frank McNamee, David had a vision to make the

SHS a top-notch little museum. He searched antique shops, antique shows, and auctions for ap-

propriate items to place on display at the museum. Now the

collection, which is valued at over $20,000, has been donat-

ed to the SHS by his family. Some of the important items in-

clude a large scrimshawed whale’s tooth depicting the

Charles W. Morgan, a collection of whalebone fids and seam

rubbers, needle cases, a spectacular assortment of whale oil

lamps and a ship model of the whale ship, Alice Mandell, as

well as several telescopes. These items are a great addition

to the permanent collection of the SHS and the Society is

very grateful for Margot and Robin’s generosity.

UPDATING OUR DATABASE

Did you know that the Sippican Historical Society has more that 10,000 items in its database? Ann

Harris, our assistant curator, volunteers every Saturday morning, adding items to our searchable

database. Jeff, our Executive Director, has upgraded our PastPerfect software and is swiftly helping

Ann to add items, and our clerk, Helen Hills, has been learning to upload items too. All of this hap-

pens under the direction of our long-time Curator, Pete Smith.

Our entire database is also available online, at http://sippican.pastperfectonline.com or via the link

on our website. From there you can search our records for family histories, old Marion photos, and

more!

Robin and Margot in the Maritime Room.

Pete Smith Ann Harris Helen Hills

AMAZON SMILE

If you are an online shopper, you can now support the Sippican Historical Society through your pur-

chases on Amazon.com, by using Amazon Smile, a program in which Amazon donates 0.5% of the

price to the charitable organization of your choice.

Just follow this link to begin shopping: Amazon Smile for SHS

MANY THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS SUPPORTERS

Thanks to your generous support, we are able to pursue our mission of celebrating and preserving

the historic village of Marion, its artifacts and archives. The following list reflects contributions for

our 2016 campaign. We hope that this list is accurate. Please let us know of any changes or correc-

tions at info@sippicanhistoricalsociety.org.

Curator

Charles Arms Estate

Charles and Christina Bascom

Riaz and Cecily Cassum

Croll Foundation

David and Victoria Croll

William and Deborah Elfers

Island Foundation

Kinlin Grover Real Estate

H. O. Peet Foundation

Robert and Judith Rosbe

Margot Stone

Michael and Kate Sudofsky

Ladd and Sigrid Thorne

William and Heather Vrattos

Weinberg Foundation

Hans and Ann Ziegler

Sponsor

Robert and Joanna Bennett

Jack and Nancy Braitmayer

Robert and Phyllis Eklund

Jack and Doris Ludes

Galen and Anne Stone

Walter and Lenkie Trumbull

Richard and Anne Webb

Collector

Michael and Margie Baldwin

Charles and Nancy Boit

Rid Bullerjahn

Mimi Coolidge

Douglas and Cindy Crocker

Robert and Susan Darnton

Bob and Pam DiFilippo

Reg and Barbie Foster

Ann Harris

Bill and Lissa Holmes

Hank and Andrea Keene

Anthony and Christina Mason

Peter and Fair Alice McCormick

Charles and Louise Nadler

Andrew Nowick and Paul Scoggins

Sandria Parsons

Peggy Repass

Wick and Sloan Simmons

Restorer

Kathleen Ackerman

Robert and Meg Ackerman

Dana Anderson

Talbot Baker, Jr.

David and Jane Barker

David and Laurie Barrett

Cynthia Bell

Alex and Chantal Biner

Ted and Liz Brainard

Gertrude Burr

Cynthia Casner

Louis and Danielle Coffin

David and Nancy Corkery

Maryfrances Davis

Jerry and Beth Devlin

George and Susan Domolky

Jeff and Beth Doubrava

Susan Drake

Timothy Dyer

Harry and Patsy Easterly

Eden Florist & Garden Shop

Caroline Elkins

Russell and Laurie Fearing

Jim and Kathy Feeney

Lincoln and Susan Ford

Peter and Jennifer Francis

Terry and Helena Freiberg

Nelson Gifford

Gordon and Linda Goodwin

Cecily Grable

James Gurney and Lisa Walbrid

Dorothea Harris

Steve and Mary Ann Hayes

Dorothy Heath

Jeanne Hickey

Norman and Helen Hills

Edward and Pam Hoffer

Nan Johnson and Alan Minard

Janet Keeler

John and Nancy Kendall

Trudy Kingery

Robert and Linda Lane

Jeff and Craig Lawrence

Bill and Kathy Lewis

Sally Madison

Christopher Makepeace

James Manninen

Bambi Markel

Janet Markel

Muffy Marlio

Judith Mazurkiawicz

Joe and Holly McDonough

Gil and Barbara McManus

Frank and Diand McNamee

Lincoln and Patricia Miller

John and Nancy Mills

Dick and Faith Morningstar

Peter and Robin Muise

Doug Munro and Nancy Moore

Ted and Linda North

Henry and Pam Norweb

Dave and Connie Pierce

Jerry and Cynthia Pyle

William and Judy Redway

Carl and Leslye Ribeiro

Charles and Meghan Rider

Stanton and Mary Roller

Ted & Kim Redfield Romanow

Tom and Alice Shire

Alan and Linda Solomon

Catherine Chapman Stemberg

Gregg and Lisa Stone

Edwin and Joan Tiffany

Mary Tomlinson

George and Dagmar Unhoch

Vera Vivian

Paul and Linda Vivino

John and Mallory Waterman

George and Lisa Whitney

Diana Worley

Lane Young

Richard and Doris Young

Family

Richard Arthur and Sally Fallon

Veronique and Chris Bale

Belmire and Juanita Barros Jr.

Robert and Virginia Becher

Bill and Mary Jean Blasdale

Paul and Caroline Bolick

Herb and Jorie Borden

Charles and Priscilla Bradley

Earl and Mimi Briggs

Charles and Carol Brown

Clint and Judy Brown

Catherine Browne

Ann Butler

Edward Byrnes

Sheila Powers Converse

Henry Cosman

Prescott and Joan Crocker

Joan DeRugeris

Clark and Joey DuBois

Hugh and Kathy Dyer

Don and Barbara Easterday

Jeff and Cheryl Faria

Bill and June Farnham

Janet Gardiner

Sam and Gerry Gray

Larry and Alane Hall

Ron and Mimi Henderson

Sam and Genya Hopkins

Jonathan and Liz Howland

Christian and Harriet Ingerslev

George Jennings

Gregory and Nancy Johnson

Tim and Kelly Kelleher

Bill and Priscilla Kennedy

John and Barbara Klein

Joyce Kohout

Steve and Suzanne Kokkins

Andy Kotsatos and Heather Parsons

James and Pat Lionberger

Mark and Lisa MacKenzie

Michael and Debra Gayle Malone

Kirt and Susan Mead

Susan Noonan

Bill and Chip Notman

Jay and Mindy Pasco-Anderson

Mark and Alice Rice Perkins

Robert C. Pina

Todd and Shelly Richins

Thomas and Pamela Riffin

Mark and Sonia Riley

Bill and Tinker Saltonstall

Bob and Barbara Sanderson

Carol Sanz

John and Marguerite Sarson

Dick and Lori Schaefer

Edward Sefranka and George

Tinkham

Barry and Susan Smith

Mary Howland Smoyer

Barry and Meg Steinberg

Deborah Stinson

Timothy and Tina Stone

Eivind and Sylvia Strand

Thomas and Cornelia Tarrant

Herald and Claire Terpeny

Coyt and Susan Tillman

David and Suzy Titus

Peter and Anna Ward

Davis and Jennfer Webb

Jack and Priscilla Wheatley

Harold Wile

Senior/Student

Larry and Wendy Bidstrup

Warren Briggs

Cynthia Bryden

Bo and Ellie Burbank

Rick and Catherine Crocker

Richard and Virginia Cutler

Diane D'Almeida

Elizabeth Dartt

Ben and Wendy Rolfe Dunham

Elizabeth Dunn

Peggs Francis

Samuel Francis

Geoffrey and Karilon Grainger

Joan Hartnett-Barry

Don and Rosemary Hudson

Robert Jones

Joseph and Ellen Keogh

Audrey Knapp

Rosemary Kotkowski

Patricia Lemire

Betty Linzee

Don Lipsitt

Prof. and Mrs. Lewis Lipsitt

Paul and Brooke Lipsitt

Michael and Linette Lizotte

Joanne Mahoney

Denny and Tippy Makepeace

Peter and Linda McManmon

Mary McNamee

Paul and Elaine Morse

Joseph Napoli

Julie Race

Will and Kerry Saltonstall

Fred and Ann Severance

Pete Smith

Catherine Stone

Shirlee Thomas

Suzanne Tifft

Jane Tougas

James and Mary Verni

William and Beverly Wareham

Ann Washburn

Doug and Joanne Watson

Bunny Weicker

In Kind Donations

Peter Ducette

Lee Gunschel

BOARD OF DIRECTORS & STAFF

President

Frank McNamee

Vice President

David Pierce

Treasurer

Judith Rosbe

Clerk

Helen Hills

Curator

Pete Smith

Directors

Robert Darnton

Steve Gonsalves

Douglas Munro

Deborah Stinson

Ann Ziegler

Executive Director

Jeffrey Miller, PhD

139 Front Street, P.O. Box 541, Marion, MA 02738

info@sippicanhistoricalsociety.org